Milton Keynes is about the most boring overly concreted town I've ever been to in Europe. Also the UK is really going off the deep end with these "trying to justify our existence" H&S types. If I lived there I would purposely go out of my way to do everything they said I shouldn't do.

For anyone that found that as confusingly explained as I did -- this is basically the equivalent of a union-required policy in the US, where the government isn't allowed to hire unlicensed people to do grunt work or accept unlicensed volunteers.

Anyone that's had to hire an electrician to plug in their lamps or wire a control system that they designed in the first place because "regulations" essentially knows how this one goes.

//Research lab that uses public money, so I get the government protectionist bullshiat and my institution's protectionist bullshiat all at once some days.

xynix:Milton Keynes is about the most boring overly concreted town I've ever been to in Europe. Also the UK is really going off the deep end with these "trying to justify our existence" H&S types. If I lived there I would purposely go out of my way to do everything they said I shouldn't do.

It's boring because it has no real history. it's a gridded, planned city.

In the UK the Health & Safety Executive is concerned with safety issues at work, not with locals volunteering to keep their communities tidy (or folk having trampolines in their back gardens etc).

Whenever a UK council mutters anything spurious about safety issues - especially when they fail to cite any specific examples of legislature - they're really just putting something on record in case Joe Public does in fact get hurt & attempts to sue the council. From the HSE website;

Meanwhile in one of the worse cities in our country, a few of my neighbors has taken control of a city park and has done a lot to fix it up and maintained it very well. I am not talking simply cutting the grass and picking up litter, they replaced and repaired fencing, playground equipment and a gazebo. The city didn't do any of the work or provided any of the money.

A few years ago the city did do a little work, they sent a crew to repaint the play ground equipment. They didn't fix it, only painted it. The slide was half missing, as in it consisted of only the ladder and the top platform. The part you slide down was missing, but the rest had a fresh paint job. They also painted the swing set that was missing all the swings.

jaybeezey:England is trying as hard as it can to be trivial in the world.

Back in the day, an Englishman would walkdown the street to get a pack of smokes in the middle of the Blitz. Now they go out of their way to baby everyone.

There's a great story in Spike Milligan's war memoirs (a fantastic read anyway. WWII as seen by a gunner in the artillery and very funny) of the gun that defended the south coast on England from German invasion. There was a train line the whole way along the coast and one huge gun on a train would be at a different place on the coast each night, waiting for an invasion. This one gun was more or less responsible for defending the whole of England.Sometimes the Sergeant in charge would run out of cigarettes so they'd drive the whole train, gun and all, to the nearest city so he could buy a pack of smokes, then they'd go back.If only the Nazi's knew....

Councillor John "Some Moistened" Bint, who represents Middleton on the council, said the decision was down to concerns over residents' health and safety. "The council cannot formally sanction a member of the public to maintain grass land next to a road. If they did a U-turn on their mower on the road and were run over, it would put the council in a very difficult position."

But, if the guy employed by the council did a U-turn on his mower and were run over, then... What? Fark'm? He's expendable?

As a non local can someone explain the phenomenon of the English local "council"? I've seen a number of these stories over the years and I'm not sure if it's just Daily Mail style sensationalism or are they really all nanny-state PC morons run amok? Like living in an entire town governed by the worst HOA you can imagine. Truth or fiction?

subfactorial:As a non local can someone explain the phenomenon of the English local "council"? I've seen a number of these stories over the years and I'm not sure if it's just Daily Mail style sensationalism or are they really all nanny-state PC morons run amok? Like living in an entire town governed by the worst HOA you can imagine. Truth or fiction?

cameroncrazy1984:xynix: Milton Keynes is about the most boring overly concreted town I've ever been to in Europe. Also the UK is really going off the deep end with these "trying to justify our existence" H&S types. If I lived there I would purposely go out of my way to do everything they said I shouldn't do.

It's boring because it has no real history. it's a gridded, planned city.

subfactorial:As a non local can someone explain the phenomenon of the English local "council"? I've seen a number of these stories over the years and I'm not sure if it's just Daily Mail style sensationalism or are they really all nanny-state PC morons run amok? Like living in an entire town governed by the worst HOA you can imagine. Truth or fiction?

I will live under a council rather than a HOA any day. By far.For one councils have to follow laws and procedures. A HOA can get any idiot from your neighbourhood in charge and do more or less what he wants, and change rules without due process, and there have been more than enough cases reported on Fark to support that.A council is different in many ways. For one the council leader will probably not be living in your neighbourhood, so it won't be personal. All the council staff are just doing their jobs. They may be petty but they have rules and a chain of command and if you disagree with something there will be a proper appeal process or the courts. You will not get a power crazed idiot with too much time on his hands.

Residential areas in the UK look fine without any HOAs. There may be the odd car on bricks or lawn not mown but in any modern development comparable to a US HOA development there won't be any difference.Streetview image or typical development with no HOA for example.

Councils mow the grass in common areas, keep the streets clean, collect the trash, run schools, libraries, parks etc. They enforce planning regulations but won't tell you what colour to paint your door or that you can't park your car in your own driveway overnight (something I have experienced personally visiting a friend in Las Vegas)(The exception would be listed buildings where they must be kept in their historic condition and colour, but you knew that when you bought it)

Another Government Employee:U.K. Farkers. It seems like every time a local Council gets cited for this crap, it is Milton Keynes. Is this place truly the Stalinist Gulag it appears?

I've never lived in Milton Keynes but I've been there a few times. The whole town is a new development on a greenfield site so it's a bit weird. Everything was planned and it hasn't really got a centre, but it does have cycle tracks. And lots of roundabouts. If you love roundabouts then Milton Keynes is the place for you...

Newer new developments have learned the lesson and try to replicate a traditional town, with a proper centre.

We don't hear that many things about it. I think this case is just a council not wanting to be shown up by someone else doing their job.

cameroncrazy1984:xynix: Milton Keynes is about the most boring overly concreted town I've ever been to in Europe. Also the UK is really going off the deep end with these "trying to justify our existence" H&S types. If I lived there I would purposely go out of my way to do everything they said I shouldn't do.

It's boring because it has no real history. it's a gridded, planned city.

Home of

... so it's got that going for it.

And my bro saw Metallica and Megadeth at the Milton Keynes Bowl back in '93.

VegasVinnie:Councillor John "Some Moistened" Bint, who represents Middleton on the council, said the decision was down to concerns over residents' health and safety. "The council cannot formally sanction a member of the public to maintain grass land next to a road. If they did a U-turn on their mower on the road and were run over, it would put the council in a very difficult position."

But, if the guy employed by the council did a U-turn on his mower and were run over, then... What? Fark'm? He's expendable?

He got licensed after a 15 minute safety seminar so the council can't be blamed for his stupidity. Typical CYA behaviour.